Tag: mental health

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Academics and researchers

I hate being told what to think

Firstly, because I hate being told what to think. I was similarly upset about Dawkins’s campaign against religious belief- at a time when I was struggling with the loss of my own; his authoritarian and judgmental attitude, I thought, was terrifying and insulting.

Secondly- and paradoxically with reference to the first point – because what we are asked to believe can’t possibly be true, unless there is a disembodied soul. Otherwise, the mind is an emanation of the body; therefore, the idea of a quasi-spiritual essence of femininity which is separable from the body makes no sense.

I have argued with people on social media.

I have had insults and abuse; people saying that, for example, they’re glad I’m not my child and that I might kill him with my “intolerance ” (he’s 2); one threat of violence; lost friends.

Smithsinarazz , 44, urbanist, mum

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Academics and researchers Healthcare

The promotion of absurdities by policy makers is a gift to political ‘anti-elite’ extremists

I recognise and agree with the concerns of feminists and parents of ‘GNC’ (gender non-conforming) children, but the greater concern for me is the abandonment of the most fundamental principles of rational analysis, normal considerations of responsible policy- making, standards of debate, consistency in ethical judgements and simple recognition of banal facts, in favour of respect for the subjective claims of one particular group (with no rationale given for privileging this group).

Consistent principles, grounded in objectivity and rational enquiry are what project minorities and the powerless from the whims of those with power. Meanwhile, the promotion of absurdities by policy makers is a gift to political ‘anti-elite’ extremists and populists. (It’s extraordinary that this needs to be said in the 21st century.)

I have donated to crowdfunders, signed petitions and written responses to UK and Scottish government consultations. I’ve had very carefully chosen conversations privately. I’m silent on social media, beyond liberal use of the like button.

I’ve mostly acted anonymously. My employer is very proud of its trans-friendly policies, I have a family to support and I don’t think the risk-return calculation merits raising my (obscure) voice.

D, University employee

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Academics and researchers Healthcare

I have an abhorrence of totalitarian belief systems and dogma

Because I am a feminist and have an abhorrence of totalitarian belief systems and dogma.  I felt I could not stand by in silence while other women were bullied and persecuted simply for stating facts and for refusing to sign up to an ideological system. I am also deeply troubled by the developmental harms and confusion being caused to children, especially gender non-conforming children, by the way this ideology has infiltrated schools and other educational spaces.   

I have been a signatory to several letters in the mainstream press. I have taken motions to my union at local and national level. I have organized a major feminist conference at my university. I have co-authored a blog on an educational website. I have written to my MP. I have submitted responses to government consultations. I have written letters to university vice-chancellors, editors and other senior academics to protest the treatment of feminist scholars within their institutions. 

I have spoken to the staff and headteacher at the school where I am a governor about their PSHE resources. I have attended several demonstrations and events by WPUK. I  was a founding signatory of the Labour Women’s Declaration. I have shared resources, material and opinions with women in my academic and social networks. I have written to the organizers of an event where a feminist was attacked for distributing material.  I have co-authored pieces in the press. I have used feminist materials in my teaching.  I have joined a local activists’ network …..   

I have been asked to step down from an international editorial board because of my feminist views (after publishing a piece on academic freedom on sex and gender).

SeveraI people in my academic network, some of whom were close friends, no longer speak to me.   I am no longer welcome in some of these network events.

I have had student activists post my name on lists of dangerous “TERFS”, calling on all trans students to avoid my classes because they are unsafe.  I have had defamatory posters, showing my photo and calling me a fascist, displayed on the walls of my workplace. I have been referred to on social media as a bigot and a transphobe – although I am not even on social media myself (partly because I do not have the stomach for all the bullying).   I have been named in defamatory articles by student journalists.   I have been insulted by fellow activists in my union branch.

J, University lecturer

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Academics and researchers Healthcare

Denying the reality of sex will make fighting against exploitation and discrimination impossible

I care about the rights of women, down to the fundamental right of self-determination. I care because I know women are still exploited and discriminated against on the basis of sex, and denying the reality of sex will make fighting against exploitation and discrimination impossible. I care about our right to knowledge and intellectual freedom and I see it being curtailed. I care about children being medicated and operated on. I care about the right of lesbian to their own sexual orientation.

I have been vocal on social media. Written to charities and organisations to remind them of their duties under the EA. Submitted many FoI requests and complained to the Charity Commission about Stonewall. Written an academic article. Written articles for Uncommon Ground. Written to newspapers. Spoken to friends.

I have been suspended from Twitter (overturned by Better Business Bureau).

I have received threats of death and rape on social media.

I have been blocked by academic colleagues, and by my own alma mater, the University of Glasgow on Twitter.

Mermaids contacted my university in Germany to have me fired.

The School of Law in Glasgow rescinded my associate position (though I cannot prove this is the reason).

I have been told by the HR department in my university that they are often contacted by academics and members of the public either by email or through Twitter, to complain about my ideas.

Alessandra Asteriti, Junior Professor of International Economics, Germany

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Academics and researchers Healthcare

I am a human being who can’t bear to see women and children lied to and harmed

I care because I am a human being who can’t bear to see women and children lied to and harmed mentally, physically, emotionally and financially. I care because I believe language is important and I am concerned that it is being twisted. I care because I try to notice sexual inequality and sexual stereotypes and I dislike them and I dislike homophobia.

I had discussions with individuals  at work until the climate at work made it unsafe to do so. I have contacted women’s rights groups and attended meetings. I have talked to close friends and my partner and my children.

I have left the Labour Party. I am less active in my union role and have resigned a union post. I have been made to feel uncomfortable at work and if I spoke my beliefs I would lose my job. I have been shouted at by a male colleague for objecting to the term Cis.

Me, Frightened

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Academics and researchers

I am a woman and I owe it to my daughter to keep the sex-based protections and rights which I inherited safe for her

This matters to me because if we become disengaged from the fundamental, structural reality of biological sex difference I believe we are in terrible danger of losing all grasp on the real world and the scientific method.

It also matters because I am a woman and I owe it to my daughter to keep the sex-based protections and rights which I inherited safe for her.

I have spoken at public events, organised behind the scenes, attended conferences, formed local groups, handed out leaflets, spoken to friends and been vocal on social media. I have lost friends, some of whom I have known for decades. Some of them have been viciously insulting about my supposed bigotry. I have been shouted and sworn at in public.

Fox, Mother and writer

Categories
Education

I see the dismantling of women’s hard fought for rights

I care because I see the dismantling of women’s hard fought for rights and I care about young people’s mental health as a secondary school teacher

I have done very little online as worried about professional consequences. Have spoken with friends, family and colleagues. Have complained to Greenpeace and Amnesty International by email

Any consequences? No because haven’t dared speak up

AM

Categories
Healthcare Parent Transwidows

My husband moved out to live his new life as a woman

Those twelve months were a hell of lies and insults. 

I was told that I should be okay with him transitioning because I “had too much testosterone to be a woman, so should be happy for him to take the female role.” 

And there was a myriad of other examples of misogyny that peppered his arguments.

My children were just starting their teens and were both affected badly by this. My daughter fell out with her Dad, until she decided that she was nonbinary and then she fell out with me. We haven’t spoken in over year and she wrote to me recently to say that she is now a boy (age 18).  My son had a serious mental health issues with self harm and suicide attempts.

When this first happened, I watched friends turn themselves inside out to be understanding and to not be seen as transphobic (though my good friends didn’t take long to decide he was a git – thank god!) My gender critical views do not match with my children’s viewpoints, so I have to try and hold back from voicing how I feel at home.  And ultimately, I blame myself for everything. I can’t get away from the idea that I broke up our family and my gender critical viewpoints mean that I really am a transphobic bigot.

I follow people that have similar views to learn more about feminism and the issues around and share some of the articles that I find interesting.  I am also a teacher and occasionally have conversations with teenagers who have expressed gender confusion – discussing how gender nonconformity doesn’t mean that they are the wrong sex. 

Any consequences? Arguments with my kids, daughter leaving home.

Nicky, musician and teacher

Categories
Education Healthcare

I could not be complicit in socially transitioning a very young child at my school

This matters to me as a parent, educator and former mental health professional.

I don’t want children who don’t conform to rigid stereotypes of dress or personality to feel they don’t fit in and are therefore ‘trans’. I could not be complicit in socially transitioning a very young child at my school (after a trans charity trained senior staff).

I think that much better attention should be paid to children’s social adjustment and mental health, and to tackling bullying and gender stereotypes,  before taking such radical steps, based on what I consider to be a belief system. I don’t understand how Safeguarding can be so easily discarded.

I have written to newspapers and contributed to BTL comments, donated to crowdfunders, campaign groups and signed petitions, communicated with my MP and members of the House of Lords. I have attended meetings and a court case. I have become a feminist because, in middle age, I hadn’t fully understood how a concept so dismissive of women (the idea of innate gender identity; the idea that being a woman is a nebulous ‘concept’ that is up for grabs) could have gained so much traction.

The negative consequence has been that I resigned from my job – a job I had loved and been effective in. It’s had a chillling effect on my sense of security and justice to feel that something so unproven and potentially damaging to the rights and wellbeing of women and children has had so little scrutiny.

I have become aware that certain people feel themselves to have an unviolable sense of having the ‘correct’ views, based on the way they vote, and how unwilling they are to listen once they have placed a label (bigot) on others.

Gemma, Adult human female

Categories
Healthcare Men

It seems strange to me that many lefty types have a blind spot when it comes to women

I care about women’s spaces, their safety, privacy and dignity. It seems strange to me that many lefty types have a blind spot when it comes to women.

I also worry about children who don’t conform to typical gender expectations thinking that they are wrong and need to be corrected.

I talk to my friends and family about this issue as much as I think is possible without alienating / boring them.

I discuss this issue on Twitter most days.

On Twitter I am repeatedly told I am hateful, a bigot or some variation of that theme. At times this has impacted in my mental health. I know I am not motivated by hate, but the idea that I am unwittingly upsetting others sometimes gets to me. I have been sent idle threats, but nothing specific enough to scare me.

JustDavidDavid, pro trans, anti gender